As Democrats and the news media continue in their effort to blame President Trump for the failure of Congress to pass a responsible federal budget bill, focusing on the plight of one-quarter of the government workforce which has been furloughed, an important historical perspective is conspicuously missing.

It's all too tempting for ill-informed citizens to view the stalemate between the White House and Congress as a purely political conflict in which the people are not represented by either side. But that would be an enormous mistake.

America has been down this familiar road before. It's a dark alley riddled with potholes and dangerous curves. Over thirty years ago, President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which provided amnesty for four million illegal aliens and required employers to verify the immigration status of their employees. Of course, Congress failed to provide the necessary funding to ensure compliance. The net effect of the law was negligible.

The consequence is that in 2012, there were an estimated 11 million foreign nationals living in the United States, but the actual number may well be a multiple of the estimate.

In 1994, voters in the state of California passed proposition 187 which would have denied the use of taxpayer funds to illegal aliens and their children for public education and non-emergency health care. Prop 187 passed with 60% of voter support, but subsequent legal challenges resulted in the will of voters being repealed by an activist federal judge.

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 was signed into law as the next effort to reduce illegal entry into the country, but once again Congress failed to fund it's full and complete implementation. Just 2.8% of the total cost of border improvement and maintenance was funded.

Calls for "comprehensive immigration reform" should be viewed with intense suspicion whether they originate with Democrats or Republicans or both. The term has been frequently used to hide massive amnesty plans which are costly, reckless and dangerous to American citizens and their children.

Any problem that cannot be accurately quantified cannot be effectively resolved. Open-borders proponents know this which is why they habitually fight efforts of census takers to determine the precise number of criminal aliens living in the United States. The failure of federal and state governments to control illegal entry into the country has forced the U.S. taxpayer to sign a blank check to support criminal aliens and their children well into the future – a cost that cannot possibly be tallied.

President Trump has offered to extend deferred actions against Obama's D.A.C.A. applicants in order to persuade Democrats to resume negotiations. But it's clear that Speaker Pelosi and her band of renegades have no intention of making any sort of concessions that would significantly stem the tide of illegal foreign incursions.

No longer is the issue of border security a political one. Rather, it has become a national security and law enforcement problem. Neither Democrats nor Republicans appear to be interested in protecting the American people from the financial costs and personal risks that result from allowing unrestricted entry into the country from the south.

America has become morally and intellectually weak and feeble. We have forfeited our vibrant religious faith for the sake of an illusion of comity. We have lost the desire to protect our unique culture and have nearly abandoned the will to defend our national sovereignty. Such a nation cannot long survive. Neither does it deserve to.

After decades of judicial and legislative betrayal of the U.S. and state constitutions, it's difficult to see how this Mexican standoff ends well for the United States apart from the strident and decisive involvement of the American people.

Timothy Buchanan

Timothy Buchanan is a US Navy veteran, a former defense contractor and broadcast engineer. He's the author of two published books and a regular contributor to BarbWire.com. Timothy and his wife live among the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia.